The new regulation has attracted criticism throughout Korea, due to the unwillingness of small restaurant owners to start labelling.

In addition, there is public concern regarding the Korean government’s ability to monitor the implementation of such labelling.

More than 640,000 restaurants across Korea are small eateries of less than 100sqm.

A large number of smaller eateries purchase beef cuts according to price and quality, not paying too much attention to country of origin.

The new rule will have restaurant owners change their menu displays whenever products are purchased from a different country of origin.

Reportedly, restaurants that fail to provide country of origin labels will be fined 50,000 won ($A52.39).

Businesses engaging in false notifications could expect fines up to 2,000,000 won ($A2,100).

The government has also stated that it will rely on customers’ voluntary reports on offenders and customers will be rewarded for their help.

The first three months there will be over 6,000 people available nationwide for random inspections.